Review: Huonosti vartioitu tyttö
The ballet classic was successfully brought into the everyday life of a gas station, which is silly replaced by the world of unicorns
Jyrki Karttunen, the director of HELSINKI Dance Company, will not disappoint again. The new book The Poorly Guarded Girl makes you laugh uncontrollably and confuse. I don’t think I’m the only one who had my mouth open. What on earth happened?
If you thought you were going to see the cornerstone of ballet, you were sure to be surprised. The Poorly Guarded Girl is one of the classics of ballet dating back to the 1700s. One of the oldest ballets of the modern era. The Finnish National Ballet last performed it in the 1980s, probably in a later version by Petipa and Ivanov. I saw it in an old opera, but to be honest, I don’t remember much about it. Jyrki Karttunen’s version is sure to be remembered.
THE ORIGINAL work was a comic ballet in which the music was a pastiche of numerous popular French tunes of the time. In fact, in this light, Karttunen’s treatment is quite justified and even recommended for the renewal of a flimsy topic. At the center is an “enchanted woman” who needs to be guarded.
In this case, the guards are unicorns and the scene is a gas station.
Not the first work I’ve seen placed at a gas station. Among other things, the Zurich Opera’s interpretation of Telemann’s opera Der Geduldige Socrates took place at a Greek gas station. And in the British choreographer Matthew Bourne’s Carmen opera, the main character is a ragged guy who enchants and crushes both women and men.
Jukka Huitila’s set design exudes nostalgia for gas stations and the 1950s and 60s, with its familiar Gulf logos, petrol pumps and American irons. Fashionably, you could say that the “modern guys” may not be familiar with this imagery.
THE PERFORMANCE fully relies on the charisma of the brilliant Heidi Naakka, who plays the main role. She is a girl/woman who runs her 24-hour gas station alone. Her guardians and friends are unicorns performed by four male dancers.
From this we can already conclude that we are living in a girl’s fantasy world. He escapes from his boring everyday life into his escapist fantasy. Everything is wonderful in his mind in the Technicolor colors of the rainbow at the run-down station.
The light frame narrative of the story gives you the opportunity to let loose without inhibitions and offer an hour of fun where nothing is impossible. The sipping unicorns parody the movement language of the ballet, and the very next moment they are guys sighing during a cigarette break.
“Tank full” meets “My Little Pony”, and the end result is a sweet mess with no hint of realism. Not in ballet in general, though.
MADNESS brings positive unicorn energy to the darkening season. Not only the girl at the gas station, but also us viewers need this kind of amplifier to cope with everyday life.
Not only does the approach unleash the choreographer’s imagination, but it also gives the costume designer the opportunity to realise their dreams. I didn’t even have time to count how many outfits Heidi Naakka has in the show. She is a “diva” in her golden jumpsuit and a Disney princess in her rainbow tulle dream.
In its abundance, the work is on the one hand like Vekkula, and on the other hand, like a ghost train, where you never guess what will come around the next bend.
Many people’s dream is to get away from everyday life. It would have been too sad and predictable that the girl at the gas station would forever be trapped in her position. Here we start the performance – and in the end, we also happily carry it out. The girl runs away from her guards and the viewer gets her catharsis.